Intense Cadillac

So, um, I'm going to get to do a Cadillac workout this evening, which is a wonderful surprise for me. I've been teaching a lot of Cadillac, but I haven't gotten to do it myself. So we'll think what happens here and I'm going to start with rollback and I like my hands a little bit wide to begin with and just rolled out just a warm up my spine and then work the arms a little bit and then articulate for the up nice and tall. This feels so good. As I go down, I'm slightly pressing down with the arms to start to work into my lats and articulating back, articulating back right. Oh one more time. Nice roll down. Looking to see how much extension length in the spine I can get. Open broad shoulders. Oh, this feels great.

And Rolling back up. [inaudible] then with one hand in the middle, rolling down again. Again, looking to balance the bar so it doesn't kind of go from side to side as I go down to holding it very, even once I'm down, I want both sides of the spine long and then I stretch. So I'm watching to keep my left ribs down. Oh yes. So the whole right side of my waist and ribs opens up. Bring my foot back, bring my hand back in a row, back up to an upright position. Other the side. What's lovely is to be able to really anchor the shoulder down into the rib cage. Nice sweep of the arm.

Left foot comes down again. I'm watching my right ribs now that they don't kind of hike up and I'm really getting this beautiful legs along the left side of the waist. So opening up between the rib cage and the hips, squaring back off and coming up evenly on both sides. Oops, that bar started to go a little crooked on that side. I've got to watch myself here. Rolling down again. Nice stretch. Oh, I can grab on the pole here. That's even nicer.

So that gives me lots of opening into the armpit. Now I'm going even deeper. I can feel my hips starting to open up a little bit. Terrific. And Rolling back up. Uh, the side shoulder goes down, rolling, sweeping the arm. Let me go here. So again, now the rib cage and the armpit is opening as well as lengthening all the way down into my left hip, letting the tissue open. Fabulous. That feels so lovely. And Rolling back up to an upright position.

[inaudible] now leaning a little bit for like spine stretch forward, starting depressed down with the bar and then pressing into the powerhouse and rolling back up. Big Lift and pressing down, deepening and lifting in the waist and rolling back up. Big Lift through the spine. Shoulders come down and deepening into the powerhouse and coming back up. Lying down on the mat, placing my knees behind the bar. Very even long spine, bringing the knees in, knees. And so it starts to work into the hip flexors and into the lower spine and into the lower stomach mostly. And then adding the lift of the chest, lift of the chest, lift of the chest, lifted the chest, lift of the chest. And I'll do my hundreds here.

[inaudible] oh, that was great. Okay, so coming up for spine stretch. Um, chest expansion, I'm sorry. Let's see here. So arms and the bar needs a hip with the part working into the feet as well. So the shins are pressing down, looking to lift in the hips, lift in the spy, broad shoulders and pressing down with the arms head head and make filling up. Every time I press down I feel I strive to get taller against this pressure. So it's lovely because it starts to really work into the lats and open up in the chest. I can feel my whole trunk working.

And one more time working into thigh stretch. I'm articulating the tail under and closing the ribs. I'm in a scooped position. The feet are active and hitching back to open and stretch the front quads. So, so I stretch and again pressing back. All that's so great. And one more time adding a backbend to this, some narrowing the hips in order to keep a lock there.

So the hips I hope are going to stay stable. Then I add opening the Justin shoulders, closing the chest and shoulders and coming up in one long swoop and then going rolling in and out. But I got a cramp, so I'm going to work that out. And here we go. Pressing down with the arms, deepening into my powerhouse, bringing the bar in, rolling up to the chest, and then a big back bend to the thighs. Go Up, the head goes down and coming up in one big long piece of pressing down again, rolling through the spine, opening way up and all came up. One more time. Big Lift, scooping and lifting the powerhouses. I rolling iron out my own body to here and now this in one movement.

Boom. I love to watch people doing this because they always look like they're opening up like a flower. So now reversing this big lift through the spine. Head goes back and it's lovely to have the bar because the bar helps you lower down to the crown of the head. Pull the bar in and poorer. Sit Down, rolling up again, opening in, stretching the front body, pulling the bar in, progressing down and up. One more time.

Biggie big lift all the way back. Pull the bar in, ironing the bar out and coming up. Turning around. So from here, first of all, just pressing out, working the strength in the shoulders, keeping the shoulders broad, the spine long, cool. And then working into a longer position. So it's like shaving [inaudible] and then pulling the bar down and lifting the bar up. Then down, up and down and up.

Yay. Okay. In preparation for rolling stomach massage, the knees behind the bar and first of all I'm going to work on is bringing the knees down, the feet down and up. This is a fabulous place to get the glutes and the hamstrings to start connecting in that area right at the top here often doesn't fire very well for people and right here you really get a sense of what it feels like to get that area to be working so you can wake it up. It's also another place. It's sometimes I like to do hundreds with actually pressing out versus coming back in, but I've already done my hundreds so forget that one.

And rolling stomach massage, coming up and and lengthening way out, articulating through the spine, bringing the knees in, hips roll up, knees come up and long floating down. One more time. Rolling in, lifting up and lengthening all the way out and down. Reversing this hips come way up. Knees come in and rolling through so they, once you know what you're doing and you're clear about the mechanics, this one is a very smooth flowing exercise because it's supposed to be a massage for the intestines. All of this rolling through is actually feels kind of good.

And then jumping stomach massage works. Your bottom, works your size and makes you feel like a crazy kid. Oh, that felt good. So no pulling in and out with the arms to work. Whoa. Work the triceps. I think the hardest part about my workout is a microphone.

So holding onto the bar. So there's a few ways the shoulders can go in. For some people the shoulders, there's not much range of movement. The shoulder cuff can be forward, in which case you want to make sure to lift the chest anyway, but you really want to see if you can pull the cuff back anyhow to expose the armpit skin. Then really stretch right below the collarbones. That's kind of what you're striving for and then pull the bar into the waist as the bar comes in. The spine of course is kept steady. The powerhouses supporting the lower back and if possible, the elbows should be going straight back. That is partially, I'm limited by how loose or tight the shoulders are. All that's good. So pressing down.

Whoa, I haven't done this for awhile. Oh my goodness. And reversing it. Pulling down and out, pulling down and out. One more time. Pulling down and now, wow. Okay. My arms are getting a workout, so nice and tall. Long Spine, shoulders down, press down, hold and present. Every time I'm pressing down, I'm looking to get even taller.

I am pressing down and then pulling. Wow. I'm going to have to come in of it. Pulling in and pulling in and pulling it. Okay, I'll this side long arms and pressing down and pressing down and pursing down and pulling in. So as I'm pulling in, I'm actually attempting to lift the elbow up and make the tricep do some of the work and two and three. Oh, okay. That felt terrific. So now push through bar on the upper spring to begin with. So with the legs long, the arms long for Savo, pressing through, slow to articulate through the spine, work the power. So even though I'm pressing back and not going outside my box and my frame, I'm staying right in the middle and then allowing the shoulders and lands the Prince Dow and makes the knee up.

And one more time pressing down and reaching and pressing up and now fast ones just to work that powerhouse and work stamina and get the muscles to fire fast. Because what can happen when we work to hear fully too slowly? It's a funny thing with speed. The body needs to be able to shift gears and either like rhythms of the music and sometimes if you work only slowly and carefully all the time, there's a sluggishness that comes into the muscles you want to. Also, especially moving bit in between intermediate and advanced, you want to be able to throw everything away. Your body is strong and you get really vibrant and alive from fast movement.

So few times just working into my side labs now, going into full mermaid, making sure my hips stay down and stretching out, stretching out the side body by go too far, I fall off. So I'm watching to keep my hip down and coming back up again. Pressing down through the lats, opening up the site body and coming up one more time, pressing down, stretching, coming up and swinging around to the other side. Okay. Okay. Here we are. So nice and tall working the other side pressing down. So the position has to be really optimum in the sense that you want to be far enough away that you can push the bar down.

There's a little bit of articulation in the shoulder and if possible, the elbow stays straight. This is not, it depends a lot on the strength in the arms and in the strength of the spring. Different types of Cadillacs have different tightnesses in the spring. So this is a nice tension for me because I can actually work this now without, if the spring is really strong, I work it that way. So I work the elbow down now, get shoulder down, pushing the bar through and I stretch into a mermaid. Okay.

And coming back up and pressing the bar down, stretching out the side ribs [inaudible] and coming up. One more time. Harassing down side ropes and coming back up. All right, reverse push through. Stretching out the shoulders. Very important. Again, the shoulders will want to roll forward. Looking to keep my shoulders back and articulate back.

So have a nice stretch across the collar bones coming forward and let the body go way down and let the float of the bar coming up. Stretch my shoulders again, stretching back [inaudible] and lifting up, lifting out of the powerhouse. One more time. Nice and long and very nice. And now we'll do a set with the teaser checking that my shoulders are right under my hands. Long legs, stretching the arms and first time just rolling up to see what it feels like. Then rolling back and stretching out. This time I'm floating my legs up three times with my arms behind my head and then articulating down through the spot and again, rolling up and lifting and now the legs, lifting, lifting, lifting and then slowly rolling down with control.

One more time. Arms and legs together and up, down, up, down, up, down, up. Here we go. Letting go, reaching for the feet, bringing the hands behind. Nice stretch. Floating the feet down like a boomerang all the way over. Nice stretch and coming up.

And the next one is going to be swan. Um, right, which I love on the Cadillac. It's such a lovely one. So first of all, just to loosen up the shoulders, want the backlog, pulling the bar behind my head. I'm trying to keep my elbows in line with my shoulders and lift my shoulders away and also keep my head turned because neck can get really tight. Turning my head the other way. Same thing, just preparing my shoulder girdle.

[inaudible] I'm now coming to the first side again. Rolling. Lifting the head in chess and lengthening up and then stretching. So I'm just hanging out here letting the shoulders and the armpits open. Head goes in the opposite direction. Rolling up again and lifting sagging into the bar and again, and lifting and rolling down.

And one more time and lifting. And here we go. Floating down and sitting back into my heels. Nice stretch. Very good. Coming back up and I'm going to turn the bar onto the lowest spring for tower and monkey in the size stretch. So here we are.

Safety chain. Whoa. So this goes this. This is a different Cadillac from me, so it's a little bit on the high side, but that'll do it. It's fine. Okay. I think I've worked with one spring.

So lying down for tower to begin with. Yes, this is going to feel nice. So Pilati stands flexing the feet three times and bending the knees three times just to loosen up the hips and then to get started with the whole exercise and bending the knees once length, letting the hips relax and lengthen. Lengthening once, flexing, once, stretching once, deepening into the power of in, rolling up, bending the knees, pressing the knees up and then articulating through the spine, stretching out. I'm actually tractioning a little with my arms and it's a delicious feeling along my spine of really elongating, creating a lot of space. Starting again, bend, stretch, flex point, rolling up, bending, pressing and rolling down.

And I don't take too long the role that I'm feels great, but I wouldn't go too slow on that one as is a lot of pressure from the spring. So it's like a massage into the back. But you, you just want to kind of go through the spine and stretch it out. Oh, that felt so nice. Now to take across overstretch, I take in my right foot in front of the left, lengthening out, making sure my hips are square, stretching three times. Great stretch for the it band. Just absolutely fabulous. Other side, long down, making sure this hip is down now and again. One, two. Oh that's so good. This whole band right here. Such a nice stretch. Oh, okay.

Coming down and setting up for monkey and then I'll be sliding off the edge here. Gosh, I lost it again. Oh, okay. Yes. Excellent. So what led me, check myself here. Okay. My bottom should be right under or in front. So really always tried to get as far off the bar as I can. First thing to do is get tight to my five, like a tight little ball and really deepen into my powerhouse.

Most of the thighs as I can to lift up. So to a lot of compression and a huge stretch into the backs of the legs. And then three times f flexing and pointing. And every time I stretch I use my arms to get more lift through the spine, bend the knees, get even taller and then roll down, allowing the spine to become very long and articulated. So the arms are pulling down slightly to get length up in the back three times looking to get the knees really pulled up the backs of the legs. Oh there it is.

And then lowering back down. And one more time with both legs. One, two, three, right light comes down. And then with one leg, when I work with the one leg, I only flex some point once so that there's not too much pressure into the hip socket. But a lot of massage to change up up bend and down, pressing up again, flexing point and press flexing point and press flex and point and come back down. Oh that's so delicious Leigh. Good. And now thigh stretch.

So lying towards the back of the Mat. Normally I would work with the arm here. Sometimes the arm can be here, but I work with it in the back today. So as no one is helping me, I'm going to put my foot right in the middle or to, what I'm striving to do is get my hip and my foot as close to lined up as I possibly can. So to get a side stretch is called a sigh strength. Long Spine. I'm thinking of keeping my shoulders way down. So as I bend I tried to get my knee towards my shoulder.

My hips will display some because I'm not a perfect human being and then stretching up. But it's a fantastic stretch and open into the hips. It just feels so wonderful. Up Flex and point. And one more time me make sure this is not giving any trouble really working the shoulders forward and the knee way back.

So I teach used to say get that knee behind your shoulder blade stretch way out, flexing point and coming down. I'll do the same on the other side. Transitioning to the other side, flying out in the middle of the [inaudible]. I'm getting my foot up in the middle. I'm using my front arm to pull my chest forward and lengthened my legs out. So this is slightly a stiffer hip.

So my pelvis is going slightly back pressing up, but it's a fabulous, oh, it's such a good stretch and up. And one more time working it back, working about working it back to have a nice stretch there, flexing point and grabbing the bar coming down. And another one I love and we'll often give beginners as well as very simple with a spring on the bottom, pressing the arms up, lifting the head, and then using that powerhouse to push the spring up. So you have this long spine pushing up but being pressed down at the same time. Very interesting mechanics of pressure to create space and to great a lot of stability in the joints because the joints are being pushed in.

And then there's this lift that runs through the spine. This is actually fabulous for people with really tight shoulders and tight backs. They love it because the work actually softens the muscles up and rolling down. Oh, okay. So done with that leg springs on next.

So I'll put this and this, ah, down for now. Just get this out of the way and move this out of the way so I can work with them like springs. I think I'll move it a little bit lower. [inaudible] whoops. I would say that's probably about good for me here. Well, like the way, all right. Okay, so on my back, first of all, simple legs, springs. Oh, I want, I'm sorry, I have the book wrong. Should be on the outer one. Okay, I'm ready. So Sophie, Dennis in the straps, the arms along. I'm getting my spine long and my heels together, so I'm just setting up my whole trunk.

So where it's really anchored and grounded so can take the pressure of the springs. So these feel fabulous. I'm just working into the hamstrings. Into the cabs. Oh, that feels so nice. Extending out and legs circles and like circles like circles and like circles, reversing it. Making sure that I stay in the spring the whole time.

Okay. Bringing the knees in, just giving the legs a bit of a hug and extending out again for a little walking steps and walking steps, coming up and walking steps going down and walking steps coming up and walking steps going down and walking steps coming up, moving into big scissors where one leg goes down and I'm watching, making sure that my heels are really in relationship to each other the whole time. The pelvis is nice and quiet so they hamstrings get to work a lot going into peddling or bicycle. Same thing being very careful to keep the legs tracking straight from the hips because they will want to roll out and reversing the pedal. Reaching down and out, down and I'll go this left leg and mine is wanting to drift out.

Stay where you belong, press breath, press and press. Bringing the legs in and extending out for a little beats. I'm in a slight Palati stance, a slightly externally rotated and then working parallel, turning out again parallel. I'm bringing the knees in and working into big frogs, pressing down and out, open lifting together and deepening in, pressing down and out. Open lifting, deepening in one more time and deepening and then reversing it, pressing out, pressing down, and bringing the legs in, lifting up, opening out, pressing down and coming in. One more time. Lifting up, opening out, pressing down and coming in. So now I've warmed up my hamstrings and my glutes, my lower back.

I'm going to have a go with the areas which are really fun and a bit more challenging. So as I go wop, I go up in one straight line and work the circles. Now the circles here, the hips, they quite steady and you really try to get the legs to dig down below the height of the hips and then reversing. So you work very strongly into the leg extension. Wonderful to tall the upper thighs and the buttocks for one more time. Five. Whoa, I haven't done this for a while and coming back down. Next ones are Super Fun walking.

So same thing from a little frog position with the legs bend, everything lift at the same time. And then the walking steps, the body and the legs come, go up and down. So it's like you're walking in ear. I always feel like I'm a surrealistic cartoon in this one. One more time and coming up, I'm bending the knees and giving myself a hug. A next one is bicycle. So again, the goal here is to get the thighs going lower than the hips. The pelvis is being held in a locked position.

So you bicycle and extending the leg out and down, out and down and down. Whoa. I have to come in for a minute because I've got a cramp. Aw. Yeah. Makes the legs work really, really hard. Okay, let me have another go. So from here, maybe I'll keep my feet a little flex. So extending out and again, bicycling definitely challenges the leg muscles a lot. Yes.

If I keep my feet a little bit softer, I can feel the muscles working but not working so much that they go to a match. There we go. And bringing the legs in and from here. Air planes. So the arms are going to be long and extended the knees in line with the box, rolling the hips up, lifting the legs up and coming out into this long but diagonal and then rolling through the spine to come all the way down again. Bending in, lifting up and out and flowing all the way down. One more time, bending it, lifting up and going out and floating all the way down, reversing it, the hip lift, bending the knees to the rolling through the spine and lifting the hips, bending the knees, rolling through and lifting the hips, bending the knees, crawling through and lifting up and long and up and long and up and long and bending the legs in a, that was a lot of legwork. So, oh my goodness, yes.

Oh right. So now a little bit of arm work just for a change. I'm going to take arm springs and they are attached to the little runs at the bottom. These aren't used very often, but our great place for strength, arm strength. So first of all, just arm curl, standing in a [inaudible] stance, long spine with the elbows placed just in front of the waist areas. Shoulders are wide. Bringing the hands up towards the shoulders, pulling them up, pulling them up.

I'm pulling them up. Very good. Then zipping, zipping up. I'm moving the mic out a little bit. The hands will be together, so quite close into the size and bringing the arms up with the elbows going sideways, pulling up. So it's a lot more work into the triceps pulling up and one more time and pulling up. Oh, okay. So now ballet stretches up high on the high bar here. Not done very often. This is really more for people of a flexible for gymnasts or dancers or people really eager to extend their um, flexibility quite a bit. Let's see. Just going to get a pad.

Okay. Here we are, just to give a little bit of padding for my foot and keep it from slipping. So I will start with my right foot to, this is really progression from ballet stretches on the ladder barrel. So you're standing. If it's too much, you can always put something under the foot depending upon the size of the Cadillac. This is a big Cadillac. It's good for me, so I'm working to keep my right hip down. It's not perfectly level, but I'm looking to get as much space in the right hip at the same time. Keep very high on my left hip, so nice lift and bending over, coming back up, move my hands a little bit, lifting and I can walk my hands back in. Arc came back, opening the chest, bringing the chest up first, bending over, coming back, lifting the chest and arguing out. Coming up.

One more time. Lifting the chest in, coming forward and going back and straight. Coming to the side, working that hip down. As much as I can. Taking this hand in front, bending over or Ho and bending some other way and back looking, especially going in, I can really kind of use the bar to help me square my hips as much as I can. Bending over. Yeah, and trying to figure this one out. Staying high in my standing hip, bending in the opposite direction. One more time, bending over and bending away. Very nice. Now I'm going to try and keep this right knee rotated.

As I lean over and I start to work my heel around so the hip is going to roll, but reluctantly. So this is a wonderful place. I'm pulling my chest forward so my body's in an art and now I actually walk down and in and then walk back up and lift my chest and again walk down and in and come back up. Let me get this set and just get it in place. Good and whoops and lift. And one more time coming down and stretch and coming up and lifting and bring the foot down and other side. So here we are. Whew.

That was a great stretch. Left hip up here, making sure I'm standing on my right leg so my, I'm not behind it and I'm not in front of it. I'm really want to be on top of it. The more flexible you are, you actually tried to do this as close to standing splits as you can. So nice lift with the chest, then over coming back, lifting the chest and arguing out, lifting the chest and coming forward, lifting the chest, arking out, lifting the chest and forward and lifting the chest and arking out. Coming up to the side, checking the time on top of my leg as much as I can be nice. Lift up. This is a side, it's a lot of work.

Making sure you're getting the supporting side extended and bending over to the lake and stretching away and lifting over. Great and stretching away. And one more time. Lifting up and over and stretching away and now keeping the left knee rolling out the hip path to go up and over to allow the rotation of the back leg. So I'm looking to bring the hip down, but it's not going to go 100% down. So I lift up as much as I can and then arch down and in towards the lake and again, press forward and lift the chest and come down and press out in, I should say one more time. Coming in and lifting and down and stretching.

So coming up and bringing the leg down. Oh, that felt so good. I think I'll go right into spread eagle from here. So standing with my feet against the metal, my arms will be nice and long, so my spine is long and just hinting out to have a nice stretch through the whole spy. Hips go down, bring the hips way up and our cup and back. So full body pressing out and bringing the hips up. Lifting the stern up and knocking out. And one more time pressing way down.

Lifting way up, lifting the chest and coming out and coming to straight. Whoa. Whoa. Okay. Now hanging down. Shoulders are down and just six knee lifts. Really pulling them up into the chest. Whoops. I'm going to stop for a minute and put my mic back. Just make me work harder.

Okay. Alright, here we go. Have to do another six. So here we go. So lifting up, lifting up, lifting up, lifting up and lifting up. Very good. And now just to finish, to stretch one hand, low, one hand, high, stand close. So the whole side body is open, lifting up in the powerhouse and stretching way out to open up the side body. Oh, that feels so nice. Other side, big lift through the spine, stretching out and coming up. Now with the hands inside, broad shoulders, stretching out, coming up. And to finish, I'm going to hang in the straps and give myself a treat because I deserve it.

So let me just get rid of these. So anytime you put anyone upside down, half upside down, full upside down, it's incredible. It restores everything cause you just get the blood to flow to the brain. Allow the heart to relax, remove the pressure on the spine. Because normally gravity, everything is going down, down, down, down, down, down, down. And then all the blood and fluids have to be pushed up. So when you go upside down, all of that is reversed and it becomes a very restorative experience.

So I want to get restored. So Sim, whoops. Whoa. Ah, oh, okay. I think there were about, you're about even, this isn't gonna work. Let me move this in a bit so we can block the straps from there. Some more slippery set up. This will work really well because now the straps can just stay anchored.

So let's start again. One foot. Oh yes, this is going to be great. Like this one foot. So first of all, I'm just making sure I'm nicely anchored. Simplest version is literally just relaxing here. The next version is draping over the edge and hanging. Oh yes. Letting the spine relax. Whoa.

I have not used to these strips. Let me see how I can lock myself in a little bit better. Whew. I think, okay. I'm just going to hang simple form today until like, oh, that's a better way. I've just anchored my heels. Oh yes.

So I can hang down and I feel this wonderful release in my hip sockets. This is great. Hanging is wonderful. Feels so good. Everything is just of draining and softening. I can feel my hips letting go. The muscles letting go.

The ankles decompressing. This real nice sense of the spine becoming long just naturally and see no bar here, but I can push out. Open my chest a little bit, come back down and then walk up swinging like a little monkey and drape. Huh. Okay. I think my feet have had it. Yes. Just a few. Rolling like a ball and I had a great workout. Thank you.